112 



INDIANA UNIVERSITY STUDIES 



know what they were to find and the easiest and least expensive 

 manner of procedure. 



The Mississippi River Commission started its work by hav- 

 ing made a large scale contour map of the entire lower course of 

 the Mississippi River. With this base map to work from, other 

 surveys have been made, and the entire lower course of the Mis- 

 sissippi River has been brought under almost complete control. 

 Not only could the topographic maps be used in the study of the 

 flood situation, but they could be used in the study of the im- 

 provement of the public roads in the unglaciated part of the State. 

 By looking at the contour map of the Bloomington Quadrangle, 

 it will be seen that the roads are built on the section lines, in a 

 good many instances making the road so hilly as to prevent the 

 marketing of the crops, and making heavy hauling almost impos- 

 sible. These roads could be built around hills of excessive steep- 

 ness and height, in many cases, where they are now built on the 

 section line directly over the hill. Also the location of road metal 

 quarries could be made in the best possible location with respect 

 to applying the metal to the road. 



The possibilities of storing the excess flood waters in the lake 

 region of the northern part of the State for irrigation and power 

 purposes could be worked out in a definite manner by the aid of 

 adequate topographic base maps. 



It would be well to place topographic maps in the public 

 schools, for social as well as physical problems may be studied 

 by their use. An example of the social problems that may be 

 studied by the aid of the contour map is found in the following 

 question : ^ Can the people that live on the part of the river valley 

 that is frequently overflowed move to higher locations?' Or, 

 ' Are they a poorer class of people that are not financially able to 

 make such a move? Are they renters or do they own their own 

 homes? Could these low lying districts be turned into public 

 parks which would not be seriously damaged by the overflow of the 

 stream ? ' 



The estimated damage to soil on the part of the White River 

 bottom traversed was something near $250,000. The cost of making 

 a map of a fifteen minute quadrangle varies from $1,350 to $5,750, 

 according to the nature of the topography, or from $6 to $25 per 

 square mile. At the lesser figure, the entire drainage area of both 

 forks of White River could be mapped for $75,000. Putting the 

 cost at $2,500 for each quadrangle, the entire drainage of both 

 forks of White River could be mapped for $132,000, or about one- 



